Life drawing July

I was able to get to another life drawing class. I missed last month and I really want to try and go to these, I feel it really improves my work overall. I am finding that my proportions are becoming more acurate and that I am able to sketch figures a bit better now. Last month I heard it was a big, black man and that he was a bit harder to draw due to his dark skin, harder to see values and details. This month we had a skinny white girl, LOL, she was so tiny I felt as though I was drawing skeletal illustrations. I enjoy a bit more curves and lines, which lend interest to the drawing. Although its good to paint all body styles. She had some beautiful poses and lines, I got two good sketches and then Marta and I snuck out early and went and had dinner at the Mexican resturant in the Mission Inn, so beautiful!! What a fun night!!!

My first Pastel

I had the wonderful opportunity to take a pastel workshop with Diana Ponting. It was incredible, I learned so much and made a bunch of new friends. Everyone in the class did an exceptional job on their paintings which really says "great teacher". I have always been a bit intimidated by pastels but Diana took that fear out of those dusty little sticks. I never knew you could get such realistic images from something that applies like chalk. It was really an amazing class. Here is my version of lemons and limes. The photo was taken by Stephie at the Watercolor Haven, another beautiful photo she allows us to use.

The Color is White

This month the color is white, white is wonderful to paint since it reflects all the other colors and if done right, will read as white although it isn't. I hope to do several paintings of whites and get them posted. Really start looking at paintings where they have painting something that your eye tells you is white and see if you can see all the colors used to say it. It is challenging though, a great study. Here is a boy in a parade, his outfit is white, I might redo him in all different colors and see how it goes.

IT's July 9 again!

Today is July 9, the anniversary of Jennifers crash. It is a weird day, it always feels weird. Some years I try to go out and fill the day with activities as if to say "I'll show you" and other years I hide away, giving into the power of the event that changed all of our lives. Today began gloomy, and I think I will stay inside today. Jennifer had a fishing trip over the weekend and won for the biggest fish! She is really amazing, never complains or gives up. She pulled this huge halibut in almost by herself, only a little help from dad and the guy with the gafting hook. She has figured out how to wind the reel now without bloodying her knuckles like she did those first few trips. She just keeps at it, determined not to give way to her physical limitations. I didn't go this year, Jenns brother, my son, and his kids went and all had a great time and caught enough fish for many dinners.

Loose Lavender

I did a quick sketch of lavender on postcard, its another practice in looseness. Its amazing how hard it is to be loose and successful with painting. I think it requires a lot more thought and makes you paint faster to keep the paint moving and flowing in the direction you want. I like the "blooms" that happen when you add water to a spot even though they are not desired, they lend interest, but controlling them is another story. I like the fact that some edges are hard and disappear letting your mind wander and imagine what should be there, while others are hard and help tell the story. I am not overly thrilled with this one but it is all a part of the process, our goal is to paint for the bin, meaning trash. That way if frees us up to really paint. I received this story at a class I recently took I will try and abbreviate it for you, its worth reading;

A teacher divided his class into two groups, group ones assignment was to paint quantity, 50+ paintings got and A, 40+ paintings got a B, 30+ paintings got a C and so on. Group twos assignment was to paint one perfect painting at the end of the class they would all vote on the top 3 paintings and they would get the best grade. Group one not only painted the most artwork but also painted the best quality, most excellent paintings. While group one painted freely just trying to achieve their quota, group two was stuck on what would be good enough to paint. The lesson is by letting go of perfection we free ourselves to paint perfectly!

Have fun today just painting! Since its 7-7-07 its supposed to be a special day, enjoy.

Chickens

I am painting this for one of the online art monthly challenges. I love chickens, we used to raise them and actually showed them at the fair here. The roosters can be so mean, and I was attacked often until he finally got me one day from behind as I was gathering eggs thats when I decided it was time to have him for dinner. Tough ole bird!

My joy right now

I am falling in love with this little person I call my grandson. I know you always love them but when you get to spend alot of good quality time with them you start to develop that special bond. I have been given the opportunity to watch him every Tuesday for the next 6 weeks for the whole day. I often see him during the week but other people are around and there is alot of distractions and noise. But on these days its just him and I, Jennifer goes off to school and the last two weeks we have gone to Martas to swim. It has been so much fun and so relaxing. We bought some toys for the pool today and had a floating ring which was fun. We swim for a few hours after lunch and then go home for a nap and snacks and fun. He is so much fun right now, I have been giving him eskimo kisses where I rub my nose on his before I kiss him. Today when I was holding him he wanted a kiss but he pointed to my nose and then his. Ahh those boys are so much fun, thank you God for that gift to our family!

Date Night

Last Friday, Randy and I went on a date night to the Newport Hyatt hotel where they have a summer jazz concert and dinner etc. It was really wonderful and perfect weather. Ottmar Leibert was playing and I have a few of his albums so I really enjoyed myself. I took some pictures and painted the next day, the hotel had colored lights shining on them so it was very dramatic and great for painting a mood. I have done two but would like to finish the whole group. I normally don't really like the stuffiness of these kinds of places, everyone putting on an act and trying to outdo the other guy. Randy and I were talking about it over dinner and he said, " Everyone's the same, we just drive different cars" I think that a great statement and so true but I don't know if I feel that way because we drive a handicapped van!

REVISED IT!

Ok, I just didn't feel it was done and my group agreed, so instead of just redoing it, since its pretty good size, I just worked it more. I think I like it better, waiting to decide is its done, your opinions count!! Although I love to garden and my yard is usually full of flowers I don't paint them, too fru fru ,fussy and victorian for me I guess. Vote now!

Annabelle is making Snowballs in June

My garden is bursting with color and painting opportunities. I find I have such limited time to paint unlimited subjects. I spent a wonderful day with my grandson Nathan, whom I adore, and we went to Marta's to swim. Marta is the hostess supreme, she had snacks and homemade chocolate gelato! It was so yummy and perfect for a warm summer day. Nathan has never been in a real pool before so it was a great day full of new adventures. He slept well and when he left I decided to steal a minute to paint some Hydrangas I have. The are so full of blooms right now, the variety is called Annabelle and the flowers look like huge snowballs but about 12" wide! Really an amazing site in the yard. I have a bunch cut in the house now. Although white they have a creamy yellow/green undertone.

Kitchen post

In a online watercolor group I am in the asked us if there was something in our kitchen that was screaming out to be painted. I had gone to the market and bought tons of fruits and vegetables, their bright colors and different smells all were screaming to be painted. But then the bag of mushrooms sitting quietly by themselves, never pushy or rude, patient and not screaming either color or strong odors. I knew that they needed to be painted. The color for June is pink and keeping that in mind I immortalized the mushrooms! Just in time, I might add, since we are going to have them for dinner! Bon Appetit

A day at the Spa!

Today Marta and I went to the spa, it was so much fun and so relaxing. We had scalp treatments and sat by the pool and painted. Then we sat in the jucuzzi and painted some more, then we sat in the sauna and just talked, wow, I am exhausted with all the sitting we did today. LOL I don't often have a day to myself and I felt totally pampered, I will savor this day for along time. We met a little girl named Jordan who was swimming with her Nana. She was very interested in our paintings and we ended up letting her paint with us. She created these two beautiful paintings I just had to post. She says when she grows up she wants to be a mom, a nurse and maybe an artist now too. Thanks for a fun day Jordon and Nana!

Balloon Feastival

Well, we went to the balloon feastival last Friday night, but there were no balloons. I was so dissappointed. They said they only go up in the morning around 6 am, so we would have to come back. I don't think so, so Randy took Jenn and I to a beautiful winery for lunch. It was so awesome, we ate outside surrounded by vineyards. The place was filled with hanging baskets and pots of flowers everywhere. I took tons of pictures and painted a little while we waited to be seated. I tried a light red rose called Juliet that was great. Here is one of the geranium pots that sat next to the pillars that held up the lattice work covers.

Working on loose Roses

On one of my online workshops they are doing loose roses. The whole focus of this website is to stay loose and not over paint or over work the watercolor. That as few brush strokes as possible and your imagination will fill in the blanks. I love the style of it and since my work is so tight I hope to find my niche somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I like everything loose, my eye likes having some hard edges to say "STOP HERE". It lets me rest and then continue my journey around the piece. Here are my loose roses, I thought I should add somemore details but the group said "No" so I would like your feelings. Is less really more?

Late night painting

My husband has been working at night, I take the time to paint uninterupted by the daily activities that steal my painting time. Although I was pretty blurry eyed I painted until 2:30 am and got this painting done. I like the way the bear turned out but the cat has too many hard edges, I will probably redo, I love this photo.

I am working on a looser style and trying to control the blooms that happen with water. I am trying to mix more of the color on the paper and let the watercolor do what it does. It is a challenge for sure and an ongoing journey!

Today we are going to go down to Temecula for the opening day of the Hot Air Balloon and Wine show. The hot air balloonist come from all over for this event and the local wineries are there for tasting and promotion. I am taking my paints, will post later.

Sleeping with a friend

My girlfriend got a new puppy for her daughter, Cassidy, they choose a bassett hound puppy. They have to be one of the cutest dogs as puppies, as adults I will pass. I have asked her to send me pictures of the puppy for my artwork, I want to paint her. This is one picture she sent me I had to share online, it is too cute! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, I guess sometimes its just better to not sleep alone!

Another post already!

My hubby worked tonight, I don't sleep well when he is home so I really don't sleep at all when he is gone. It is now 2:00am and I think he will be here by 3, whats one more hour! I decided to paint tonight instead of doing the dishes! YIPPIE! I love being a rebel! I worked on painting a picture of some tea cups my mom brought me home from Barcelona, I love them. She carried them in her backpack all over Spain! They are tiny little demitass cups that look as though they were mosiacs. I think I over worked the piece a bit but its ok, I will try more later. This was a challenge in WH this month. Tomorrow I am meeting Marta for lunch and we are going to the Art museum to turn in our paintings for the members art show. It is not a juried show but should be great anyway. I am putting one of my cat pictures in and Marta is putting in a tomatoe painting she did. Maybe during lunch we will have a chance to draw or paint while visiting.

Sending Flowers

I played with pencils today, I am working on a rather large graphite project for a online class at WC. The teacher is awesome, one of the most gifted graphite artists I have ever seen. When he offered this class I jumped on it, by coincidence it is about digging deep into ourselves and expressing some inner feelings. There were three different assignments to choose from. Anyway, I am not ready to post that yet, I have to photograph it first. But my pencils were out and I was tired of working on this seminude giant pencil drawing that I am trying not to smear. I decided to stop and draw a little ATC to finish something and feel like I accomplished something artwise today. Just some days it feels like I spin my wheels with little results. Here is my little graphite ATC which will go to one of the girls in our group, it is called sending flowers.

Finally! I got some pictures

My daughter finally emailed me some pictures of Nathan's room with his new mural. Since I kept forgetting my camera every time I went to visit I had to rely on her to send me some. Here they are, keep in mind that this is what my daughter wanted. Nathan actually loves the tiki guy because he has a bellybutton just like Nathans! Which he loves to show us by sticking his finger in his and then in the tiki guys. I also painted a bottle with a special message to Nathan and all his favorite toys below, he loves these toys because he can make all the sounds of the animals or motorcycles, the exception is the giraffee!

Memorial Day

I decided to take a few minutes this morning and paint before I had to start a mural job and potatoe salad for dinner. Seems like once I start my "have too's" I never get to my "want too's". In our front yard we have the coolest fountain, it is a big ball and the water flows out of a hole at the top and just streams down the ball into a small reservour in the triangular base, there it overflows into another catch basin and recirculates. It is just so different than most fountains. The area at the top that the water overflows out of kind of bubbles and often I find hummingbirds bathing themselves. I sat outside this morning and drank my coffee and quickly painted the fountain that is surrounded by roses in full bloom. FUN! Happy Memorial Day.

UCLA

Well we made it back from UCLA, it was a long hard few days. We took Jenn in on the morning of the 22nd, we had to leave at 5 to make sure we were there by 8 since her surgery was scheduled for 10:30. She was totally trusting that God had the whole thing under control and wasn't worried. I, on the other hand, was a bit more worried, I know that God was allowing me to fret a bit. The surgery went well, her throat had closed up to about 1/4 of its original size and they were able to stretch it to about 1/2 its original size which the doctor felt would make all the difference in the world for her. They also told us that sometimes they have to do these surgeries multiple times since the scar tissue keeps reoccurring. UHHH, lets hope not. She did have some sort of allergic reaction to one of the medications so they kept her another day. She got to go home today, a little bruised but happy to be leaving the hospital. There is always so much to deal with when we are there, all hospitals are subject to human error, we had to deal with some this time as always, but we did have some great nurses too. I did manage to get some great picts of some of the surrounding areas to paint and sketched a very unflattering picture of Jenn with a rag over her eyes trying to bring down the temperature on her hot, flushed face. Jen said, how come when I go into the hospital you guys go into vacation mode! LOL we laughed, not understanding what she was talking about as we walked to a nearby restaurant to get dinner and talk. Well, maybe its the feeling that someone is taking good care of her and I can just relax, so shoot me.

When they were admitting her, the anesthesiologist was going to put in the IV, I warned him that she was a hard stick but he was confident he could do it. 15 trys later, Jennifer was a bruised, bloody mess, he kept apologizing and had to go get a pediatric doctor to do it. Her veins just kept rolling, or blowing when he would try and stick her! She never complained although I told him I wouldn't have been so nice. She has a high tolerance for pain but that was ridiculous! After surgery,that first night she was in a "monitored room" which was people on machines that the nurses needed to watch closely. It ended up being a room full of old men and she was the only female. She told me that next morning all they talked about was penis and testicles all night, she wanted out, she had had enough of that! She is so modest and hospitals are so blunt and matter of fact. We laughed as did her doctor when he had her moved to a room with a women. We thought our problems were over but this women was really miserable and had Jennifer calling for the nurse all night ( they had taken her call button away from her) and would scream and tell Jennifer to help her, using lots of expletives and slang. When I arrived this morning I found Jennifer on her phone trying to call the operator to get the doctor since the nurses weren't responding to the call button anymore! Poor Jenn, needless to say she tried hard to do what she could but was glad to be able to go home. LOL (Just a note about the pictures, the first is a playhouse across the street from the hospital we wanted to try and go to but didn't get to, the next is called Green's Castle in Pasadena, going to be on tour June 3 it is so beautiful and huge, the next is a giant flower that was growing in the courtyard eating area of the hospital, the flowers were huge, anyone know what it is? the last is Jenn, being admitted, some of the abuse on her left arm is already exposed by the bandages her kept putting on with those giant cotton balls!)

Bug Fair

Today was the bug fair at the LA Natural History Museum. The museum is really awesome and the bug fair was really fun too. Jennifer is an avid bug collector and just loves insects. She has always had jars of bugs and reptiles around her room. After the crash I didn't want to be responsible for any "living" bugs but I agreed to let her continue collecting them "already dead" to hang on her walls. Yuck! But she loves them. She used to refuse to buy any pretty butterflies but now she does, thank God, her walls are full of beetles and spiders etc, might as well have some pretty bugs. Her and Troy, a life long friend, who is now 13, have been attending these fairs since Troy was about 3. They would buy things like, the Madagascar Hissing cockroach as pets, or the red toed tarantula, or walking sticks, praying mantis' etc alive and keep them as pets. When they would die they would pin them and frame them and put them on their walls, calling them their "dead pets". Yes it pretty creepy, I know, but she loved it, so I let her buy a giant millipede from Africa, she wanted to get it for Kylie, my granddaughter, but by the time I got home we had decided to let her keep it. I will have her hold it and get a good picture tomorrow, but for now you will have to enjoy these picts. I wanted to draw and paint but it was far too hectic. It is hard to believe that this many people go this crazy over bugs!!! The place was packed. They also had a butterfly exhibit, that is where I got this great photo. There were so many butterflies they were landing on everyone.

Life Drawing class

Last night was the museums monthly life drawing class. Marta and I went over early and had tapas and a sangria at Seville's a spanish resturant. It was really quiet and was great to just sit and visit with her for a bit before class. She painted as I talked and we ordered some great food. We ordered coffee and and apple tart ala mode for desert, yummy! There was not time to draw or paint that, we ate it too fast. It was just enough before our class. We had a wonder full figured black women to draw. I really was pleased with the results, Marta and I had both agreed that tonight we would paint masterpieces! Her facial features were hard for me to draw for several reasons. I was using one of my new giant graphite sticks and its like trying to draw details with a crayon, no good. Secondly, the lighting and her skin being so dark, made it hard to see lots of details and value changes. I started doing sketches but ended up painting one watercolor. It was a great night, so much fun and lots of people from the plein aire group too.

Farmers Market

On Saturday morning, Marta and I ran out to the Farmer's market for breakfast and a photo shoot. We had a great time in just a few hours, plus we brought home lots of goodies for the week. I love the colors of the vegetable and all the people milling around. There was even a 3 piece band playing. The market is one of the prettiest areas too so we got alot of good shots, we may try to plein aire paint next week!!! Here is my swiss chard, I painted it so I can eat it! Also a picture of Marta, armed with her camera, she needed a picture of a jewelry store for a painting she needed to do for one of her groups. She kept taking photos of this exclusive jewelry store, I was sure they thought we were casing the joint! More to come.

Quilt Camp Projects

Although I didn't complete these at camp, I did start them and decided to finish them right away so they wouldn't end up in the UFO pile. I am amazed at this paper piecing pattern I decided to try and do in honor of Rose. wow, the thousands of tiny pieces and the assembly instructions left alot to be desired. Anyway, I got it together, barely, and not perfectly, just don't look too close. I am sharing the back too, since that is where the rats nest really is! Where are the ironing police when you need them!? The bulk at the intersections was incredible! I was sewing over mountains and at one point I thought it would be easier to brush the threads verses cutting them. On Saturday we found this chalk board fabric and Marta and I both made these travel chalk mats, her for her niece, mine are for my grandkids. So cute and easy, email me if you want more information on it.

Quilt Camp in honor of Rose 2007

I belong to "The No-Rules Wendsday Night Quilt group that sometimes meets on Thursdays", LOL, and as crazy as the name seems the group is crazier. They are all alot of fun and each one of the ladies that comes bring a special spark to the group. We had such a good time, some quilted, some scrapbooked, some made cards, some knitted or crocheted. But we all had a wonderful time. We overlook the lake and it was so crisp and clear and cold up there this year. On Saturday night, after dinner, Dawn and Marta and I went into the spa. Brrrrrr, the wind was so cold so the spa felt great once we were in, the hot water and the wind biting at our faces. It was really wonderful just to have some time to visit with each other in such a lovely place. The saddest part about the trip was that we lost our Rose this past year, she had been a part of the group for I think about 20 years. Anyway, we did camp in remembrance of her. The gifts and all the auction items were themed with roses. And then to add to the sadness one of the other members also lost her husband suddenly and didn't come and our superior leader is moving to Tennessee. So needless to say camp was bittersweet this year. Life is so fleeting, so short, it must be appreciated. I didn't get too much accomplished and will post what I did soon.

The Mural

My oldest daughter and her husband just bought their first home. We are so excited for them and we decided that we would paint Nathan (my grandson) a pirate room. I went over on Saturday to work on it and they were so indecisive so I told them to think about it and let me know. She then thought that the Jungle book would be cute then she changed her mind again. Two days later she called me to say that she had found the perfect thing for the room. They were like tiki people and she was going to do another aloha room with a different twist. OK I am game, so they brought me these scarey pictures from a Islands resturant placemat. I thought ok, this is her house, just paint whatever they want. I started yesterday and worked more today but forgot my camera. I am posting the first days work and will post my work in progress as I photograph it! I hope it turns out cute, I would hate to scare my grandson to death, he does have to sleep in this room. LOL So far I have roughed in the sand and water and the palm tree trunks.

" The Little Artist's"

Saturday was my latest venture with the Plein Aire group, this time Marta went along. We agreed to paint at a function called "Art in the Garden" at some private homes that were having tours through their gardens. They scattered the artists at all the homes that were on the tour. Marta and I were assigned to the same home. We decided to walk the property and decide where we would paint without all our gear first. We were required to paint from 10:30 - 4:30. It was only 10 am but it was in the 80's, we knew it was going to be a long, hot day. At one point during the day the owner, showing the property, referred to us as "the little artists". We had to laugh because we knew she was referring to her assumption of our social status but we decided to claim it as our body size. Its all in your perspective, right!? I have decided that everyone has an opinion about artists, maybe because the term is over used and is too vague. I hate to even call myself artists most of the time because I think people expect someone with blue hair and tons of jewelry with only part of their brain working. I think I look too main stream to qualify, so who really qualifies as an artist? Is it an education in art, or a teaching degree, award winning recognitions or just a gift to create. This word "Artist" is used to describe painters, sculptures, people who draw, designers, quilters, hair stylists, and Michelangelo. There seems to be no true qualifications to call ourselves artists, we can just assume the title. Years ago you had to study under the masters as an apprentice for years before you could consider yourself an artist. So maybe, we are little artists, that's OK, because its a journey. We come with different skill sets and exposure but with a desire to learn and improve, so I will enjoy being little because I have the ability to grow.

Here are my two paintings I did, they are fair, not too exciting, this plein aire thing is almost as challenging as some of the people I have met lately.